Adichie's short story collection, The Thing Around Your Neck, is a powerful testament to Nigerian culture that resonates with every single Nigerian in their homeland and America. Intertwined with different aspects of culture, explores the idea of ​​faith and religious expression in well-educated, “Americanized” Nigerians versus established religious practice conventions in traditional Nigerian culture “The Shivering,” characterizes Americanized Nigerians’ attempts to understand the role of faith, superstition and religious expression in their lives. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on 'Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned'? , the protagonists are well educated, or pursuing higher education, and struggle to perceive the religious traditions of their people as anything but antiquated. Like the professor in "Ghosts", they are "Western". educated” and “[should] have armed [themselves] with sufficient knowledge to laugh indulgently at the ways of [their] people.” (57) The retired professor describes the superstitious practice of grabbing handfuls of sand from the ground and throwing them at someone presumed dead when he meets Ikenna Okoro in “The Shivering,” Ukamaka (who is working on her thesis at Princeton); believes Chinedu's "Nigerian Pentecostal way" of "blooding and binding" in prayer is unnecessary and boxing (143). Chika, in "A Private Experience", mentally disproves the Hausa woman's perception of the riots as evil by drawing on her sister's academic understanding; “Riots don't happen in a vacuum.” (48) Poorer and less educated people are described as more spiritually connected to their faith and superstitions than their scholastic counterparts. For example, the Hausa woman's fragmented sentences, the description of her clothing: “...light pink and black scarf, with. the gaudy beauty of cheap things” – and her business in the onion trade all point to the fact that she is disadvantaged (44) During their meeting, Chika finds herself wondering if the Hausa woman’s mind “is big enough to be understood” the terms and. concepts that she so easily attributes to the forces of good and evil. (48) He dutifully performs his prayer ritual for their safety while Chika sits and thinks about how to rationalize what is happening to her that they were clustered under the flame tree" - as they vigorously curse the vice-chancellor, who they accused of having stolen money from everyone's pensions - and compare them to street vendors, conjuring up the image of robust men, people very similar to the Hausa woman, who make a small living selling goods on the streets. (58) These "modernized" characters exist in a class separated from poorer and less educated people and therefore are separated from the beliefs their people have always held. There are multiple references to America, or "Americanized" people, seen as "sterile" and secretive in religious expression – not just in faith, but in practice. (67) Perhaps as a reflection of their assimilation into modernized culture, Adichie's protagonists demonstrate the cautious distance they have been taught to tolerate religion; they approach theological ideas with cynicism and the polite coldness of skeptics. Sheltered by the cushions of academia, they have lost touch with the doctrines of their respective faiths, to the point that dynamic religious practices make them uncomfortable. In “A Private Experience,” Chika looks away when the Hausa woman kneels on the ground to pray and wishes she too could take comfort in faith in God, if only to share the experience or know how.